FF’s rising star admits he is fighting for his political survival

HE bends his head forward and pulls up his coat collar as the driving cold rain lashes down.

As he canvasses through winter hail and rain in his political heartland in Carrigaline, Co Cork, yesterday afternoon, the man many regard as Fianna Fáil’s rising star, Michael McGrath, tells his constituents he is fighting for his political life. “If I’m to survive this election, I need to do well in Carrigaline,” he says.

As he and his team of Paul Cotter, Tom Hopkins and his brother, Seamus, move from house to house in the Liosbourne estate, just off the Upper Kilmoney Road, the showers pass and a rainbow appears.